Panasonic SD9 1080/24p HVX200 - Oh My!!!

David Saraceno

David Saraceno

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I been testing this little 1/6-inch 3-CCD AVCHD cam by wandering over to Costco, and shooting footage onto a SD card.

It shoots true 24p footage, not over 60.

Creates a AVCHD mts file that no NLE will open. However, I received a comp copy of Voltaic-1.2.3, which converts it to AIC or prores ---- very slowly.

I drop it into a 720/24p timeline, send it to color for some contrast and CC, and it looks pretty darn good with HVX200 footage.

Workflow is currently skewed however.

I waiting on NAB for some announcements before I further test the cam, but it is surprisingly good.

17 mbps maximum but the native 24p is a seller along with a global shutter and 3-CCDs. Also tapeless workflow.

FYI
 
I downloaded one of Kaku's clips. EDIUS opens the files, no problem. Drag 'n' drop.

Vegas Pro 8.0 crashed on it, but I've come to expect that from Vegas -- if it isn't Sony footage I have no confidence in Vegas being able to work with it anymore; seems like they insist on making life hell for non-Sony users.

If you have iMovie, try that -- it's supposed to support AVC-HD well.

Pinnacle Studio 11 and Ulead are supposed to support it as well.

FCP should support it through log 'n' transfer, but converting to ProRes so it takes up something like 10x as much space.

I didn't try it in CS3, so I don't know if that'd work or not.
 
Thanks Barry. Both FCP 6.0.2 and iMovie 08 immediately crash even though the clip is in the log and transfer window.

Premiere doesn't support it.

But the video footage is not bad. No pronounced stobing/stuttering at 24p on medium pans, but you need to be careful.

Lighting in costco wasn't optimal to say the least, but there were some good colors in the area where I was.

How long is the conversion in Edius?

And also note that all AVCHD imports aren't identical. I experienced no issues with the Canon HG10, but the Panasonic SD9 crashes everything on a Mac.

Now if a turnkey Scarlet comes in under $2K, I'll forget about it. Even $3K
 
David S. said:
How long is the conversion in Edius?
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No conversion. Drag and drop and play. You could probably play the clip right off the SD card if you wanted, but I didn't have it that way, I had it on the hard disk ('cause I didn't shoot it, I downloaded it).

I'm using EDIUS Broadcast, but I think EDIUS Neo supports AVC-HD and only costs like $299 or so.
 
:evil:
Thats what we love Edius for... "how long takes the conversion..?"
Who knows when Avid will support that Codec, maybe in 2 Years.. maybe..!


Nice... sounds really interesting, would be curious to see that cam here in europe too..will check it out..!

Is Kaku still posting some stuff...?
He was really helping me for our decission making about the HVX200...great guy..does anybody has a link to his site?

Thanks..

Barry_Green said:
No conversion. Drag and drop and play. You could probably play the clip right off the SD card if you wanted, but I didn't have it that way, I had it on the hard disk ('cause I didn't shoot it, I downloaded it).

I'm using EDIUS Broadcast, but I think EDIUS Neo supports AVC-HD and only costs like $299 or so.
Click to expand...
 
I played with some SD9 clips in Edius a week or two ago, and I too was impressed by the quality of that little camera. You can either ingest the material directly into Edius, or use the free AVCHD to Canopus HQ Converter to convert it to something more edit-friendly.
 
It comes with Edius, and can also be downloaded separately from Canopus' support website -- you just need to create an account. It does however require the full Canopus HQ codec because that's the only output format it supports, and there is no Canopus HQ codec for the Mac. The codec comes with Edius and Procoder and will not run without their respective USB dongles.

Conversion speed depends on your CPU, but it does support assigning each file in a batch to a separate core.
 
Good News for Panasonic SD9 and FCP 6.0.2/iMovie 08

http://www.perian.org/

Download version 1.1 of Perian.

I just finished testing the import of some MTS footage with FCP 6.0.2 and iMovie 08, latest version.

Both apps saw the MTS files within the folder structure on a mounted USB drive.

iMovie imported and converted to 1080/24p AIC in real time on a MBP. FCP did the same to prores 4.2.2 in RT. No crashes. QT 7.4.1.

Pretty lickety split
 
I don't own one. We have been dissuaded from purchasing for two reasons, one of which has been resolved with the Perian 1.1 import solution.

The second is the pendency of NAB. I'd to see what Scarlet is all about, plus any other announcements

If nothing makes sense, we're going to take advantage of Costco's return policy to determine whether the cam is going to be a good b roll and handy cam to the HVX200 with some CC.
 
Kaku Ito said:
Panasonic now provides AVCHD to DVCPRO HD converter.

Now that I have this, I will post some more clips.

http://web.mac.com/kakuito/KakugyoBlog/Podcast/Podcast.html
Click to expand...

I know it does, but all th AVCHD to DVCPRO HD converter does is install a QT component.

You still cannot do anything with the mts files on a Mac with that converter installed.

Unless you have specific instructions, exactly what does the converter do with the Panasonic SD9?
 
Sorry, I'm just letting people know about the converter, also someone asked about my link. Off topic for your questions.
 
Guys at circuit city now, there's a 10 percent coupon and you can select in store pickup. Going to cost 700 total including tax. The coupon voucher code is: FUAUTGVAUX


Anyone thinking of getting the hard drive version? What would be the pros and cons of this and anyone use the HD version? I think i'm buying it tomorrow either way.


Today was laughable. We shot from the helicopter with a fast shutter and talk about Jello. CMOS cameras just plan suck at panning and movement and vibrations. Finally driven me to put the HV20 up for sale. Sucks so bad it's almost comical at what it does to the image.

Does the Red exhibit this kind of thing, even modestly? I was so hot on the Scarlett, but if that has a CMOS chip.. probably not too much. cheers all
 
Justyn said:
Does the Red exhibit this kind of thing, even modestly? I was so hot on the Scarlett, but if that has a CMOS chip.. probably not too much. cheers all
Click to expand...
All rolling shutter cameras do this. The Red does it, the Infinity does it, the Scarlet will do it, the EX1 does it, the EX3 will do it. It's endemic to the concept of using a rolling shutter.

The HV20 is the worst at it, and the Red is the best at preventing it, but when pushed it will happen. It's just the way it is with a rolling shutter and it will never be otherwise.

Red is a lot more resilient to it because a) they've tried to optimize it out and b) the camera is so big and heavy that it's not nearly so easy to jostle. The HV20 is the worst at it because its readout is very slow, and it's such a tiny camera that it's very susceptible to vibration and jostling.
 
Thanks Barry. You are such an asset. Thanks for pointing me to this camera. I'm going to buy it at circuit city. The only down side I see is that the batteries are hard to come buy and they are kind of expensive, with no knockoffs being made.


Does anyone know where I could pick up some long-life cheap batteries for the SD9? I need quite a lot.


Also that harddrive that comes with the pro version of the AVC A1 ( I think it is?) is a possible purchase without that camera? I'd love to be able to buy a battery powered SD card HD so I don't have to carry my laptop into the field. Any competitors doing this?

I saw the panny DVD one but you need to use the camera and I'd just like to have it upload the cards.. Hmmmm, might have to check further into this.


Finally, any difference in the two types of cards SD and the SDHC or whatever it is. ? Thanks all.
 
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